I Stand Corrected (On Break)

Chapter 4: The Bottom of Things

Tia's POV:

Thursday...

"So let me get this straight; Monica likes Neil, and Neil does not like Monica," Vihaan summarizes as we walk around the school together, catching up on lost time.

"Yup," I confirm as he continues recapping what happened these past few days. "And you talked to her on Tuesday."

"Very nice," I chuckle as he tries to think to himself. 

"Well, is she nice at least?"

"Yeah, she's really sweet. At least from what I've seen so far," I confirm as I purse my lips to the side, grasping the situation here.

"That's better than her being straight up rude," he shrugs as I nod my head in agreement.

"Yeah, I thought she'd be a little passive-aggressive or something, but she was just nice. For some reason, she seemed really excited to meet me."

"Maybe she wanted to see who she was competing with for Neil's attention," he suggests with a shrug as I widen my eyes. 

No way. No way, she doesn't seem like the person to do that. Besides, we have better things to do than fight for a guy's attention.

"Then she'd win any day. She's literally gorgeous. Like she looks like a cat. And she studies Biology at frickin UT Austin-" Before I can finish, he whacks my arm so hard that it starts stinging.

Okay, I kinda lied when I said I was chill with the Neil and Monica situation. Don't get me wrong, I don't mind if someone else has a crush on him. Just as long as he doesn't do something stupid. But I'm scared that all this distance between us will cause some rift in our relationship. And the last thing we need is for last year to happen again.

I am not going back to the football stadium to cry again. It is not happening at all.

"Ow! What was that for?" I scream as I try to reduce the pain on my arm.

"Okay, this Monica girl may be perfect, but do you think Neil is that much of an asshole to break up with you just like that? Especially after how long you've known each other?" he knocks some sense into me as we walk into the lounge area.

"Don't worry, Tee. Neil likes you too much to let someone else steal his attention away from you. Stop getting so worked up over this," he advises as I take a breath and register everything he's just told me.

Vihaan's right. I guess I was just so stressed out and paranoid from these past few weeks that it just came to a head when I saw this new girl. I shouldn't feel threatened by this girl; she seems cool, so I shouldn't get too worried. Besides, I've known Neil for over 10 years. I should know him better than that.

"Yeah, you're right. I'm sorry for dumping my problems onto you like this," I snicker awkwardly while we walk away from the lounge area. "What am I here for?" he quips and I roll my eyes.

"Come on, you know that's not what I meant," I snap back and he laughs and looks forward, clearing his throat as soon as he looks at the person in front of him.

Vinnie is walking in front of us, coming back from taking a test in Calc. She looks at me and waves, but guess what? She actually waves at Vihaan too!

Well, it's not even that much progress because it was like a tiny little awkward wave. She then walks towards Ms. Smith's class for a meeting.

Anyway, after waving at him, her smile immediately drops as she walks past us.

Okay, that's it. I need to ask them about this. This may not be in my lane, but I can at least get the context on this entire situation.